Priorities
by Crushed Peanuts
Summary: Ino and Sakura have a mission to complete in a village. Unknown to her, Ino meets a member of the Akatsuki and falls madly in love with him. What will happen when she gets to know the truth? InoxDei My first fanfiction.
1. Chapter 1

The two fifteen year old comrades finally achieved their destination. It was just a regular village, but it was packed with missing-nins and shinobis; a perfect hide-out for some uncovered reason. This was the first place to come if you wanted to find a missing person.

"Aiyaa, the heat is killing me," the blonde exclaimed the same statement for the sixth time. Sakura was slowly getting pissed off. _Good_, Ino smiled to herself, _my day's task is soon to be completed. _

She thought about their mission. It lacked so many details, that it couldn't possibly be a short one. There was some unknown male shinobi with striking blue eyes and feminine features who had stolen an item. They were to spy on him, and retrieve the possession unharmed. This item was described as a secret technique scroll which had a seal with a spider symbol on it.

Sakura broke through her thoughts, "Now, all we have left is to find the _Blue Mountain House._ Which way should we go?" Knowing she wasn't required to answer, Ino ignored the question. Sakura was the leader, a dominant one to top it all.

"Ok, let's split up. I'll go check around this place, and you can go search for that future apartment of ours." She smiled, waved, and left the pink haired girl in a great hurry.

"Hey, wait! I don't think it's a good idea! You don't even know yourself where it is!" She, of course, chose not to hear it. Why spoil the fun?

Her pace became slower as she slithered between the hordes of people. The mind-controller inspected every house and crook in case if something interesting or peculiar would catch her eye. No wooden buildings could be seen.

A delicious scent lured her towards a lone food stand in the corner of an intersection. Her stomach growled for nutrition. Ino battled within herself whether not to disrupt her perfect diet. _A few dangos wouldn't hurt._

"Deidara-sempai!!" Somebody clasped her from behind. _What the heck_? Her brows furrowed from annoyance. "Hm? Oooh, I knew it! Deidara-sempai is a girl. Tobi is a good boy, ne?" The hug tightened making the konoha shinobi extremely annoyed. A punch landed hard on his head. The assaulter winced from pain.

"What is wrong with you?!" She held her fist in case she would have to knock in some more sense into his head.

A menacing aura appeared behind the orange, swirly masked figure. "Who the hell are you calling a girl, Tobi?" A very outraged black robed guy burnt his gaze through the unfortunate lad. Ino was astonished._ Eh? He looks a lot like me._

"Deidara-sempai is that you?" That was just adding fuel to the fire, but before any unwanted actions were taken, they were interrupted.

"Ummm, do you happen to be locals?" It just popped out of her mouth. Surprised herself, she backed it up, "It'd be great if you two could show me around." Nervous for some reason, Ino fiddled with her skirt.

There was a moment silence. Deidara, whom she assumed to be the mad as hell, blond guy, came closer. "And what use would it be to us?" He was coming nearer; crossing the distance strangers should have between them. Beads of sweat trailed in her back. A sense of vulnerability filled her. _This feels so uncomfortable._

She tried to quickly come up with an answer while staring at the still clear blue sky. "Payback for him," the blue-eyed girl pointed at Tobi, "assaulting me."

A combat of blue eyes kept place. Ino tried to keep her glare steady; she was not going to lose.

The blithe fellow, tired of waiting, assured, "Sure, we'll show you around, come with me, come with me!" Tobi grabbed her arm and pulled her after him. "First, we eat, and then, and then, ummm, we can go-" A string of excited blabber continued non-stop until they reached another food stand. She let out a sigh as she seated on one of the chairs in front of the counter. Ino would've never guessed how tiresome it was to be with such an exuberant guy.

"Order anything, sempai is paying." Had he not had a mask, a smile would've probably been exposed. With that he sat on her left side and ordered, "A bowl of sweet and sour ramen"

"Hold on, I aint paying none of this shit, this goes off from your stinking savings, un." Deidara had followed them and went to Ino's other side. Anything to avoid that idiot of a partner.

The mind-walker kept her remaining focus on him. He had the same hairstyle as her, and the colors of their eyes and hair matched. No, his was darker blond and the eyes were deeper blue. His bangs were also parted on the other side.

Their eyes met.

"What're you staring at?" Leaning on the table, he played with his just ordered sake.

The Yamanaka girl wore a slight blush, and turned her head. _God, my head must be malfunctioning or something. How embarrassing._ She tried to look anywhere else except him.

Just to make her forget the incident she told a worker, "I'll have a bowl of rice and sashimi." Tobi's loud slurpings got on her nerves, but made her even hungrier.

To pass the time, she twirled on her chair like an eight year old. Not many customers had come there; it was peaceful, like a bubble remaining undisturbed by the outer world. She also noticed that the only worker kept on eyeing suspiciously at her two companions.

"So, what's your name?" The sudden question made her jump. She faced the speaker.

"Ino."

"I guess, you should know our names too, hm. I'm Deidara, and that asshole is Tobi."

The person on question raised his head from his food, and cheerfully added, "Yes, me is Tobiii!!" _Does he even know he was just offended?_

Her orders were placed in front of her. She ungracefully attacked the food, like there was no other day. It was purely on instincts. The akatsuki partners looked at her oddly; they did not see that coming. When Ino had finished, she smiled, not realizing her having acted like her teammate Chouji, who was known as a great glutton.

Noticing for the first time a head protector, which only shinobis had, was worn by Deidara, she carefully asked, "Ano…I'm just curious, from which hidden village do you come from?"

He looked confused at first, and unconsciously touched his ninja head protector. His eyes enlarged. He had forgotten to wear the usual hat to disguise himself. _Shit. Shit. Shit. It was pure luck my bangs had covered the village symbol with a line crossed over it._ "Hidden Rock." _It's best to stick to the truth as much as possible. Nobody was supposed to know they were there yet. _

Ino knew something wasn't quite what she thought it was, but let it be, she had a mission to focus on. This was just a minor distraction.

The last rays of sun were about to fade away. "Do you also happen to know where the _Blue Mountain House_ is?" She hoped the answer would be positive, other wise she would be in knee deep trouble trying to find the assigned place she and Sakura were supposed to live at.

"I know! I know! I'll take you there while sempai pays for our delicious dinner!" Quick as a lightning Tobi once again grabbed Ino and pulled her back to the crowds of people.

She could faintly hear Deidara's annoyed complaints about the situation, and a promise of revenge against his partner. The shinobi couldn't get his face out of her mind.

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I hope you like it this far. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Comments on how to improve my writing would be even better. No need to worry about my feelings or whether you were too harsh.


	2. Chapter 2

Ino buried her face deeper into the soft pillow as the annoying voice continued. She usually was a morning person, but she gladly pretended not to be one just to avoid more of Sakura's raving and ranting. She had gotten loads of that yesterday right at the moment she had opened the door. It's not like her friend had to know every single movement she made.

"You are **not** ignoring me now, Ino. Don't you dare show me your back." Angry and frustrated from her futile efforts, Sakura went on with her backup plan. The sleepy head relaxed, thinking all was fine. Little did she know about the jug filled with ice cold water which the evilly smirking Sakura had in her hands. Ino screeched and jumped from the bed as the coldness seeped into her. _Argh! Damn that Sakura, I'm all cold and wet. That friggin' forehead girls will pay for this. _To emphasize her thoughts she shot a death glare to the future victim of hers.

"Next time, you won't do the disappearing act, ok?" Even though Sakura's voice was stern, there was a hint of hidden worry. Strangers might see them as sworn enemies, but beneath it all they were close friends.

Her teeth still slightly clattered. "O-o-k." That was the easiest way out, any wrong answer and she'd regret it for the rest of her glorious life.

The hokage's former apprentice dropped her leader mode and switched back to normal"So, care to tell me what happened yesterday? You were all dreamy when you finally cared to show up here."

Ino rummaged through her green bag in search of dry clothes. "I was not all dreamy. I just had a lot to think about." After finding the hidden treasure, she quickly changed and fussed with her long, tangled hair. She didn't miss her friend's knowing smirk.

"To think about, eh? About what?"

"The mission, you know, it's not gonna be easy at all."

"Yeah, the mission, riiiiight." Her disbelief seeped clearly into her words. "Well, before we eat breakfast, I'll take a shower. Try not to have random spurts of the moment this time."

"You remember not to use the wrong shampoo this time." Bull's eye. This earned Sakura's embarrassment and heated steps to the only bathroom in the house. Ino had never forgotten what had happened a couple of years ago. When they were in the public bath Sakura had accidentally used someone's hair dye shampoo. The infamous pink hair had in minutes turned into green. Though the story was old, she never failed to rub it at Sakura's face when agitated.

The bed squeaked under Ino's weight. She had no idea why somebody would name this house which had no significance what so ever. It was only rented to people. Now, that she thought of it, there wasn't even windows, mind a few ventilation holes. The house was quite modest, consisting of three rooms; a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. Eh, she even had to sleep a couple of meters away from Sakura. To hint a little bit more, let's just say that Sakura wasn't really the most silent sleeper you could find. Ino'd have to buy some ear plugs when she'd get the chance.

The bathroom door opened, releasing a warm cloud of steam. There she was, all perfect and ready to go. "Let's go, what're you waiting for. I swear you're becoming more and more like your teammate, being a lazy bum that is."

_The nerve of that little…_"Quite a sharp tongue you have, forehead girl."

"Ino-_**piiiiiig**_"

"Pink is so last season."

They faced each other, both knowing what was soon going to happen. Their muscles tensed from expectation. Time to sort this out. With a quick dash they exited their apartment.

* * *

"Face it, I won," Ino panted heavily next to Sakura.

"You're in denial, I clearly found the first food place."

No power to continue their fight they drooped in front of the very same counter Ino had eaten the day before. She didn't notice this until the familiar face of the worker asked for their orders. He seemed to also recognize her.

"I see your other friends aren't feasting with you this morning." He nonchalantly eyed the suddenly frisky pink haired girl while speaking to Ino.

Sakura's head popped up and asked, "What other friends?"

"I'd like the cheapest breakfast meal you've got." For some odd reason, Ino didn't want to share her tiny secret with her childhood friend.

"You're ignoring the question."

"No, I'm not."

Sakura sighed, they both could go on and on forever. However, she was already extremely tired from their previous race and famished.She could pester the little mind-controller later.

* * *

First step, blend in the crowd. One couldn't believe how much valuable information goes through one's mouth to another in an everyday gossip. Extracting information from drunkards was a piece of cake, considering the fact if they weren't neither the lusty nor the violent types.

Here she was, for the third night in a row, spending time in a repulsive and smoky bar without hearing anything that Konoha shinobis actually needed to know. Sakura was in a nearby place doing the same thing. The more areas they covered up, the better. Drinking small amounts of alcohol and listening attentively to gibberish discussions was time consuming and boring.

This time she'd have a different strategy. The game was called seduction. She'd had had to wear a revealing and sexy outfit. Her cleavage was clearly revealed and her long thighs spread out underneath her mini skirt. Every detail from earrings to the shirt was carefully picked out.

She crossed her feet. She had hoped to meet Deidara again. No luck. Her thoughts wandered as wildly as a fawn. Daydreams of their reunion.

The air was incredibly hot inside; a great contrast to the chilly temperature outside. Remembering from her latest experiences Ino had purchased a fan. _Thank God._

She slumped over the table.

"So, you were a whore, after all?" That familiar voice. She confirmed her suspicions by turning around to meet the blazing blue eyes. She was too dumbfounded to deny anything at the moment.

_Oh my gosh. He's here, he's here! _"What're you doing here?" Ino tried to sound casual, but failed in the next sentence. "And what's with the straw hat?" _It's weird, and has white strips circling it; almost completely masking him. It's as if…he was hiding._ She mentally giggled at the silly thought. _Probably from Tobi._

"Private business. Nothing to do with you, un." _Well, as long as he's here._ Upon his answer she offered him a seat beside hers.

"Heya chick, _hick_, since the second you came, _hic_, in, I felt a connection to you. Hic, wanna go somewhere more…hic…quiet? " A revoltingly drunk man had hobbled over to their table spreading his ill-breath everywhere.

She had come here to gather information, but enough was enough. "Back off!" Already foreseeing the events that were going to follow, she straightened up and bolted outside, before things got nasty. She just hated the mess cause by these kinds of unwanted situations.

Ino had automatically assumed Deidara would follow her. She turned around realizing she hadn't thought it could've gone wrong. A warm chest hit her square on the face. She let out a small yelp.

"You forgot something, un." He tied the Ino's forgotten shawl over her, never breaking their transfixed gazes. The hands rested on the captivated girl's shoulders. Her heart was beating like horse's hooves on a sandy road. Her breath caught up on her throat.

She felt something odd from the spots his hands were. Slowly he let go of her. "Come." That one word was all that it took. She nodded and quietly followed him across the silent streets.

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Thank you all for the great reviews. They've really kept my motivation and inspiration up. Watching AMVs also helped that factor a lot. I had plenty of time to fuss with this chapter while I was at a camp the whole week.

I'd love for some more reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

The moon faintly illuminated the village, something didn't feel right. Her eyes widened at a sudden discovery. "Why do you wear nailpolish?" Ino crossed her fingers. _Please don't be gay. Please don't be gay. Please don't be gay. I want to have some kind of chances. _Not knowing what had made her think like that, she mentally chanted the same phrase over and over again.

He checked his purple fingernails, as if he'd just noticed them. "A requirement when I joined… an organization."

This left Ino confused. _What kinda organization__would require such a thing? _She stole a look at his back. A tingle shot through her spine. Excitement._ Excitement of what?_ She was no fool, she knew all the signs. _I think he might just have some potential._

They had been walking for some time. The past team 10's bossy beauty was quickly growing impatient. "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere, hm."

"Eh?!!" She had thought that he was actually going to bring her somewhere romantic, instead they were just roaming around in the middle of the night, doing nothing! Unbelievable.

He had slowed down, so that we were side by side. "What's the pout for? Yeah!"

Ino masterfully rearranged her face into a big, bright, fake smile. _Quick, make up an excuse. _**"**I'm just still irritated by that drunkard in the bar. He pretty much ruined my night out.**"**

"Hmph," Deidara replied, clearly not believing her, but saying nothing. This time.

She took notice of his black robe enhanced with red symbols. The girl studied the peculiar, little things, thinking hard about what exactly were those red splatters.

"Love those flowers in your robe."

"Tsch. They're not flowers, they're clouds, un." He seemed mildly annoyed and gave her an almost pitying look.

He dared to pity her! _And_ at the same time be annoyed with her?! She was fuming with sudden anger. _Calm down, Ino. Men do not find violent women attractive. _Two deep breaths and she was back on track.

"That ring is amazing; can I take a closer look at it?" She reached for the blue ring in his right index finger.

"No, mm."

_Hmmm…that didn't work. He's being awfully cold. But there's nothing I can't fix._ She smirked inside. When she was through with this, Deidara was going to be all hers.

The sworn tormentor of Sakura had been so captivated in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed arriving to the footstep of her abode.

"Ino, what are you strolling around the streets for? Didn't we agree to go straight home after this." Ino's head attempted to register the familiar person ahead of her. Emerald eyes, short pink hair…

"Sakura?" She meekly inquired. "I…" Turning her head wildly, she searched for the only male in presence. "Where is he_?" _

Sakura's brows furrowed as she demanded, "Where's who?"

Deidara had somehow disappeared into thin air.

A bit humiliated and embarrassed, Ino turned the cards to her liking. "I was searching for the poor fellow who has decided you're the chocolate of their eyes. You know, this village's version of Lee or Naruto." _Pathetic, but will do._

"Why you…" Sakura's head snapped up when she noticed the familiar ritual go on. Her friend was hiding something. Her tone turned less angry. "We've known each other from the time we were kids," she nudged the usually lively girl inside, "and you think you could fool me by turning on the tables."

Even further darkness enveloped them indoors; Inoichi's proud daughter hastily lighted a candle she found from a drawer. If she was going to have to confess to Sakura, she would do it so that they could actually see farther than their noses.

Both drowsily settled on her bed. Ino broke the ice and softly reminded, "We haven't really always been the model best friends." She reminisced the time they had fights over the Uchiha prodigy. Though they had rekindled their friendship since then, it would never be exactly the same. Sakura knew this too, her features slumped a fraction in defeat.

They changed their outfits while bringing back the ghosts of the past. All that bickering had been for naught. First, he had abandoned the village for good, despite Sakura's desperate efforts to stop him. Then he had changed, not only in the outside, but also in the inside. No longer did their Sasuke-kun exist, he had been devoured by anger and revenge. In the end, their last ripples of hope had been crushed; the avenger had chosen some unknown village's shinobi to bear his child. No, he might've not taken her as a wife, but…

Sakura had taken it harder than her, or anyone else, apart from a hyper baka. That girl might've actually had true feelings for him.

Slight envy and sadness made her reach a conclusion. She had no reason to hide Deidara from her; there was nothing secretive about him. _Heck, I could even bother Sakura more by boasting about him._ The thought lightened her, and thus the heavy atmosphere.

"All right. So, you want to know of whom I was wondering about." This brought the pinkette's full attention, as she was pulling on her pajamas. "I met him the day we arrived, he's hot, he's wonderful, and he worships me." _Well, not yet, but a little lie won't hurt anyone._

Instead of arguing about that, Sakura insisted Ino to continue by nodding her head in a certain way.

"You'd be surprised at how much he looks like me. The long blond hair tied up, the bangs parted on one side, and the blue eyes." As she went through the list, she touched each part mentioned.

A suppressed giggle bubbled out. "What narcissist. So, you **were** lying. He's not hot, he's as ugly as you Ino-pig. No wonder you didn't want to tell me about it." Ino threw a pillow at her.

The challenge.

Eyes locked up and sizzles of sparks flying between them, the candle light diminished. As quickly as it had begun, the competition dropped down. Ino regretted her choice to light a small candle.

Sakura uneasily returned to her own block of privacy, diving under the rough blankets. "Was there any luck gathering information?"

The blond shaked her head and answered negatively.

"I found out something." She paused and turned to Ino before continuing. "There has been a talk that the person we're after goes to gamble every other night; he's in great need of money. I also heard someone say to be aware of the mouth, but I still can not figure out why. It could be possible that the person has a bloodline limit concerning that."

Ino tried to smugly joke, "Or then he just curses a lot or something."

"You know it wasn't said that way. The teller was scared, no, more like terrified."

She crawled under the sheets and turned her back to Sakura, intending to ignore her rival. "Good night." Simultaneously an irritated reply came from the other side. The full extent of tiredness swept over, her eyelids hurt from being kept open against her natural instincts. She thought about the precious information Sakura had learnt. If only Ino had been of some use. _Damn her, the forehead girl won again._

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Thank you so much for the reviews, you can't possibly imagine how happy it makes me to read each of them. I greatly encourage for more.

I've written more and more as each chapter goes by, so I'll try to maintain that. Oh, oops, it just got longer, but less words. My bad.

:( Well, on the next chapter, I promise to write more.

If you have anything to ask, feel free to write it down.


	4. Chapter 4

"So...this is the place." Ino peered around the humble hallway that had a door opening in the end of it. The lovely view was of cracked walls and dusty ornaments. Charming.

"Yup."

"What a dump."

Sakura sighed, "What did you expect?"

"Hygiene."

"I know it's not as developed as Konoha..."

"There are dead chickens on the floor and from the stench of them; I'd say they've been so for quite a long time."

"C'mon, Ino, this is a gambling den." Sakura paused, thinking better of it than to trying to reason with her. "Just be glad it's not in your bedroom." Ino merely smiled victoriously.

Sneakily, she stole a glance at Sakura. That girl had been uptight since last night. In the morning she had also been uncomfortably silent. None of her probing or teasing had bore results. The pinkette's first words were uttered just awhile ago, so one can imagine what kind of torture Ino had to previously go through for some kind of response.

They walked through a doorway of beads that led to a hall of shouting, cheering and dice.

The place was divided into sections. Each section held a game and was thus full by default. Everything was actually just like the interior of her garbage bin; all the junk was scattered everywhere. Had Ino been the owner of this place, she'd definitely install order in here…and hire some cleaners. Maybe there would even be a restaurant somewhere over on the left and there definitely was going to be a medical station based on what she had seen so far.

Sakura stopped and Ino recognized instantly that look in her face.

"Where's the trouble?"

"Shhh…" Sakura furrowed her brows in concentration, wary of the slight sense of danger she felt. Ino witnessed some kind of a transformation within her friend: a growing determination­. ­"Stay here and keep guard. Don't let anyone out."

She didn't need any words to figure out that Sakura was on a hot trail. Actually, she didn't mind being left alone. It felt more comfortable so, for a little breather would work miracles in her.

However, five agonizing minutes crawled by with her constant surveillance, but nothing out of normal was spotted. What with a few fist fights here and there and a twisted ankle, her time there had proved to be considerably boring. Listening to the never ending bellowing around her was more interesting.

"Place your bets! Place your bets!"

"Cheater!"

"Gimme money!"

"Where's the dice? Oh, here's the dice. Where's the tablet?"

In the mass of men and games two particular figures stood out like a sore thumb. They were sophisticated women sitting in tranquility, as if they were some unearthly force looking down upon the mere mortals. Feminine demeanor would have been their definition. They were so stunning and breathtaking, that even Ino grudgingly admitted that she would have to back down in a competition against them.

For some reason, she felt compelled to go to them. Without thinking, she soon found herself nearing them, trying to show off in front of them. Surely she could be twice as stunning as they were, if she tried hard enough.

Let them know that she had been her year's most wanted and admired girl back home.

Where was her long hair when she needed it? Long lustrous blond hair. Yes, a perfect ingredient to the master piece of a recipe. Not that she would look incredibly plain without that addition. This way was fine, too. As long as she didn't mess up her walk, everything would be fine.

It was just her luck that she happened to bump into a person who spilled his sake on her. The girl was very close to ripping the poor fellow's head off. Very close indeed.

She inwardly groaned at the rice wine on her hands but pretended that nothing abnormal had happened. However, her dignified walk failed horribly when her foot got caught in a piece of discarded wire netting. Never before had Ino stumbled so ungracefully, so unattractively; that had there been autobiographies of her, they'd be utterly appalled it actually happened. Five wild guesses where she ended up. The answer is: in the lap of one of the ladies with her hands tangled in their hair.

She fervently apologized and quickly mustered her scrambled self. The women shot her a venomous look and went back to doing whatever they were interrupted from. Ino shrugged, not anymore really caring what they thought of her. The temporary awe already wiped out.

Now was the time to catch the criminal, not posing off. There would be enough time for that later on. She squeezed her hands into fists and was slightly surprised to find her palms sticky. There was something black on them. Remembering where she had just placed her hands, a quick apprehension dawned on her. _Hair dye._

Suddenly a sickening explosion temporarily silenced the place. Her head snapped up. Then there was chaos.

A weird, windy noise brought forth thick, heavy smoke. It was darkness in a sense of you couldn't see any other forms, colors, or shadows, unless it was in your immediate personal radius. The most important thing was to stay calm, but it became clear that no one would stay perfectly serene in this situation. She felt horrid as she continued to pace over some trampled bodies. No one cared, they just kept on shoving their way through, desperate for a way out.

She soon found out where the incident had happened. She was standing right on the edge of the crater where broken pieces of metal junk and furniture were mixed in with human gore. A metal pike couldn't have scraped them off the ground anymore. That's how stuck they were.

More than anything she hoped that Sakura had found their target. He would pay for this so hard he'd feel it down to his shivering innards.

She carefully avoided further contact with the crater and rushed onwards. She came nearer to the source of whatever or whoever had caused this. Her assumption was backed by her growing ominous feeling and the steadily increasing stillness in the air.

Suffocation wasn't too far, since breathing felt harder and harder, as if her lungs were lifting weights. A couple of dragged steps and it suddenly ended just like that—back to normal. The peculiar thing was that everything became just a bit more focused. It was like she had entered some kind of air bubble under water whilst diving for many hours non-stop.

The figure of a familiar person had managed to stand out blurry against the haze. There he was. She was sure of it. "Deidara." The name fell silently on her mouth.

Her heartbeat over ruled the rest of her conscience with its rapid thumping. _What's he doing here?_ The same phrase played over and over again in her head like a broken record.

She couldn't comprehend the connection. She didn't feel like herself. She was a spectator right now, just like when she took over someone's body. This was the feeling being in a place you shouldn't be.

For the briefest moment, their eyes met, before he was veiled by the thick smoke. In the distance she vaguely heard her team mate roar with outrage.

Without considering what had already been done, more was to happen. A sound would come and haunt many of the villagers' minds. It was the sound of something between a loud, wet pop and a rip. Then came the sound of mind calming splattering.

It was raining. Hoping it'd erase the pungent smell of butchery, she welcomed the droplets. But instead of them being soothing and cold, they were hot and piercing. It took a moment for her to figure out that it was blood.

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First of all, I must apologize all the readers for making you wait for more than a year. Many stuff has happened, but I won't even bother to excuse myself. What made me go through was reading reviews over and over again 'till I practically memorized them, and looking at when and by whom was my story visited. Man, I feel guilty, especially when I checked at other fanfics and saw how often they update.

I kept this deliberately more slow-paced, because I really wanted to end the chapter on that mark and leave the rest for the future.

Any criticism is welcomed with lots of joy. Tell me the pros and cons and what didn't feel so right in the story. Oh, and please do tell what parts in this story made Ino and the others feel OC. It'll make writing easier. Trust me. Plus I'm blind to my own writing.


	5. Chapter 5

It was over with that

The dripping seized, but the smoke was still evident.

It didn't even strike her odd that they were inside and it shouldn't have rained there. _Blood._She wondered where Deidara was. _Blood._She needed Sakura by her side now, in case the killer was going to attack her unaware. _Blood. I'm covered in blood._

Her eyes widened and she tried to rub the vile thing off her but only managed to spread it even more. It wouldn't go away. She panicked. A fleeting thought of connection between two vague things made her shudder, but before she could analyze what they were, it had already dissolved. Her head ached.

What she didn't understand was why couldn't she handle her emotions now? She was used to this, what had made this experience any more different? Bloodshed shouldn't be really surprising, since a mission at this level rarely could avoid it.

She furiously wiped off an escaped tear on her cheek and took a few deep breaths. It was enough to recompose her. Her face was a blank slate with calculative eyes.

It was too quiet. It felt like dust was settling down after a good blow of a wind, only to soon be disturbed by another one. Someone was heading her way.

She felt her shoulders relax a fraction. In a quick motion, Sakura had appeared by her side huffing. "Anything to report?" She didn't let her answer the question yet. "Tell me soon, first, let's move. We can't afford to waste time." She sprinted into motion with Ino tagging closely to her.

Their navigation was somewhat hampered with the horrible visibility and mish mashed objects. Thankfully, Sakura seemed to know exactly where to go.

Ino summarized what had happened, until she came to the most disturbing news.

"Someone literally exploded."

"A bunch of someones," Sakura corrected, as she dodged an askew pillar.

"Enough to make it rain all over this place." The size of the gambling den was easily comparable with the one of a market place. "It all started with that first explosion. Did you see the crater with those…human remains?"

"I was there when he did it." Her mouth tightened into a thin line. "One of them is hiding. He switches places too fast for me to follow."

"Two of them?"

"Three."

Her first suspicion of one killer had multiplied into three. This was not going to be easy at all. Had it been her old team here instead of Sakura, their chances wouldn't look so grim. The lazy ass could have easily found a solution and the fat ass would have worked it through with sheer size, power, and speed.

"Two of them are definitely Akatsuki. The third one doesn't seem to belong anywhere." Those words froze her guts. She wished she had misheard the statement but knew the better of it. Akatsuki was here; get ready to dig your grave.

Only a handful of people knew about them being the bad guys, much less of what they looked like. She didn't actually know anything about them, apart from the occasional rumors and accidental slips. Of course, Sakura would possess all publicly withheld information, since she was the Hokage's favorite.

"One of them especially stood out. Keep an eye on him. He's completely crazy." She paused for awhile before continuing in a monotone voice, "Formerly from Iwagakure, S-class missing-nin, blond hair with only one visible eye."

She flinched at her description. More Deidara always had his left eye covered with hair. Hadn't he also said to her that he had come from the Hidden Rock village (Iwagakure)? And she had seen him eye-to-eye right here.

Instant regret washed over her hastily drawn predicaments. Deidara couldn't have done any of this. He wasn't capable of doing such a cold-blooded thing and she knew him for all that mattered! Besides, she might've imagined him there. It was hazy and she had been surprised and shocked.

Something tugged her foot from mid air. She crashed down in a painful heap, trying to assert what to do. A clay millipede was dragging her back to where she came from.

Sakura sidestepped just in time, avoiding an explosion of sorts. They have found their targets.

There were blurred shapes fighting just ahead: two against one. Lots of room for her to join in.

The bug kept on dragging Ino farther away. Well, bug number three. Every time she managed to escape and destroy one, a new creepy crawly would pop out and take its place. Those clay bugs were the very things that had caused all the explosions. She tried to summon all her previously learnt knowledge. _Bugs, bugs. bugs. Shino and his damn bugs._ No use with that information.

Suddenly, its head perked up as if it had heard someone calling for it. It let go of Ino and scampered to the fight. She followed.

She reached them just in time to see Sakura handling things on her own. She was fighting one-on-one with a dark, feline looking woman. The others seemed to serve as an audience in the shadows, as if it was all very amusing. She held an image of cats playing with mice before eating them.

Sakura's opponent somehow kept on avoiding her deadly jabs. Her fist connected to the floor hard. From here a crack continued all the way to the opposite wall, creating a giant opening. Ino heard a whoosh as the woman fled away with the two others chasing her.

They were not going to escape.

She was readying her jutsu, but failed to even position her hands when they were restricted by her friend.

"Don't be stupid," Sakura warned.

There were plenty of possibilities of her failing. She might miss and leave her body vulnerable. And even if she managed to possess one of them, she might get hurt**—**but this time she'd have to worry about two bodies: her own and the host's. In her first chuunin exam, a shinobi whose mind she had captured was brutally abused by the shinobi's own teammates. She had suffered herself from them, too; since what happens to the host's body happened to your own as well. She knew her techniques weren't meant for battle, but they were practically letting them go without a _real _fight.

She could hear laughter at their stupidity gradually fade away. The smoke cleared out, exposing the complete damage rate. No presence could be felt.

It was over with that. The cause of the disorder had dispersed and nothing seemed to make sense in her overactive mind. She needed time to calm down and inspect everything piece by piece.

"We could've gotten them." Ino muttered.

"Don't overestimate yourself." The girl was so frustrated she punched a hole on the wall. Responsible Sakura going on irresponsible. "We'd be dead."

She blamed Sakura, but instead of voicing it out— she just silently nodded.

§--§

I won't be able to update for at least a week, since I'm having my Exam week. I should study more.

Please review. A couple of minutes of your time will make my day. Tell me the bad and the good stuff. Preferably the bad stuff. I don't think anyone wants to read the same flukes over and over again, so to avoid that…Or just write something random (e.g. I read your story).


	6. Chapter 6

Was that one of the Akatsuki? She retraced her steps to an ally. Here came the disappointment. It was just another street cat clamoring in search of food. Her senses were really getting duller.

Ino wondered how long it would take Sakurato finish her report to their village. No, actually, she wondered what it would contain. How about somewhere along the lines of: Had a lovely day gambling. Lots of civilians got killed 'cause we didn't do our job properly, but we're alive. Oh, and Akatsuki is here. How's it going over there?

Not a trace of them or the mystery cat like woman anywhere. She and Sakura had checked the whole village over and over again for two days already. One would think that experienced and talented ninjas as them would've easily found out at least a clue. The only explanation this far she'd come up with was that they were young and searching stuff was not their specialty.

Explosive was what you'd imagine the mind reader as after the whole situation. It was some sort of a relief that it didn't last for long. Eventually, she had found herself simmering down, feeling a bit unattached to the world, but other wise fine. Truthfully, it all felt a bit surreal.

From all the places they could be, they just had to pop out here. Not only had they caused havoc, but they were also chasing another ninja, who had also participated in the killing spree back in the gambling den. Ok, so the woman was clearly against the Akatsuki, since they were attacking her and all before they arrived, but that didn't justify her attacking Sakura and Ino, too. Unless she didn't know that they weren't the bad guys. Argh, way too complicated. Leave the thinking and theories to those who can actually do it.

Actually, she should take a long break right now. That's all that girl like her needed right now. Somewhere behind some old buildings was a creek. It was just as lovely as she thought it would be, aside from the moldy like gunk on the bank of the water.

Too bad the place was already occupied by someone. She blinked twice. On the other hand, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. It was Deidara shuffling some clay in his hands. A few steps closer and he looked up. He didn't look surprised; in fact, it was like he had been expecting her. Only, it wasn't that happy expectation.

His hand twitched every once in a while towards his pouch. Had she not known him better, she'd have assumed him to have hidden a gift to her in it.

"Ah." _Great opening, Ino._ "It's been awhile."

"Come to finish off things? I've been waiting for this moment…yeah." His smirk turned cold and it made her insides churn. It was like he was another person.

She felt ridiculously confused. "What? You mean…" So, maybe he was finally coming around. The date she had anticipated was just in her fingers' grasp. And it didn't even require that much work!

"Don't fuck with me…yeah." He was about to open his clenched hands when he took a hard look at her face.

_Yes, I must__ look breathlessly amazing._Thankfully, Ino had put a lot of effort on her looks today, as she had done so on every other day.

His resolution faltered a fraction. "…You don't know…yeah. If you had, I would've had to-"

"Eh?" she intercepted.

The only answer was a smirk she had grown accustomed to and a visible relaxation. A close inspection on her part was made on his expression. Nothing earth changing was revealed. Then, Ino's short attention span wavered and she went past him.

Ahead of her was a tiny flower with only one bud on its stem. She plucked it and remembered the time she and Sakura had been picking flowers when they were kids. That girl's confidence level had really needed a major boost that time. A smile played on her lips, as she twirled the plant between her fingers.

"Should've known you weren't looking at anything interesting, un." His breath tickled her ear.

She almost knocked him with her head. He had sneaked behind her. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. The tingling made her want to double up from the power of it. Wishing fervently that it'd stop quickly, she tried to subdue it by pulling her hands around her midsection. Things were as distracting as they were right now.

Right then, the flower dropped from her grasp. A spider was creeping next to her exposed foot. Her scream practically echoed. Her frantic stomping had no effect. "It won't die!"

His shocked eyes watched her go ballistic. She hated small bugs. You just never knew where they could go and you couldn't fight them with fists or anything. Ladybugs were fine, bugs bigger than her fist were fine, even flies were ok. _If_ there were Venus traps around. However, this was not fine.

_Use your chakra, woman. _She thought. Concentrated amount of it gathered into her foot as she took one final stomp. A satisfying crunch resulted. Heck yeah, it worked!

"My piece of artwork!" He knelt down to the crushed pieces.

What was so special about that? He could make a new one.

"Aren't you worried about me?"

He was seething. "You fuckin' bitch!"

The deadliest glare ever was directed at him. It was enough to make him regret slightly his previous words, which wasn't normal. At all.

"I suppose that means you were very, very worried about me, and you would gladly do anything to cheer me up. Right?" She felt like a mother scolding her son. Her posture and crossed arms if not implied the impression, then downright claimed it.

The feeling of his temper reached over to her. Immediately she knew she should have let it slide, but she discarded that thought; since he managed with great effort to subdue his anger little by little. Perhaps hanging around Tobi had managed to work some anger management into him. He was bound to until some extent. Nobody could otherwise last that weirdo.

Settling into his usual annoyed state, he shrugged noncommittally and left it for her interpretation.

Smug as she was, it was good for the sake of the both of them she didn't go further into it.

"Damned bug lover," she whispered under her breath.

§--§

Thank you so much for the reviews! They mean the world to me. I still must add that they were extraordinarily wonderful to read.

I've been thinking over my reviewing experience (sounds grand, heheh) and have come up with a thought that maybe some of you guys don't know what to review on (happens a lot to me). So I decided to ease it up by supplying some questions and ideas.

Is the story too fast paced? Deidara/Ino needs to have more/less of in their character. The transition between paragraphs could be improved by (state something). What exactly didn't you really understand in this chapter? There needs to be more/less (e.g. action/romance/reminiscing/appearance of a character). What should be emphasized? What feels unrealistic or out of character?

I'll come up with more later on. :) Once again, thank you.


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